Let's Run Away To Happiness: Alternate Version
by Veronica.On.The.Moon
Summary: What if Sirius was proven innocent and didn't go to Azkaban? Then he would, of course, been made Harry's legal guardian. And that happens. But what if, five years later, Olivia is back? What's Sirius gonna do, and how's everyone else going to react?
1. Five Years Later

**So here's the alternate version. I'd tell you what happens, but then I'd spoil everything. I will tell you, however, that it's AU. Not incredibly AU, but it's still AU.**

"Harry, are you dressed? You can't be late for your first day of school!" a man's voice was heard from the inside of a two story house. It had blue paint and toys littered the front yard. A motorbike stood abandoned to one side of the yard, a white Volkswagen in the driveway of an open garage. The neighborhood was quaint and lovely, with signs of children all over.

"I don't wanna go, Sirius!" a child's voice pouted. The man had raven black hair and fathomless grey eyes. He sighed and walked up the stairs, entering a child's room. The bedroom was Quidditch-themed from the ceiling hangings to the bedspread to the toy broomstick and Quidditch balls that lay on the floor.

"Harry," Sirius knelt down, "Don't worry about it, you'll have fun. You need to get dressed, c'mon."

"Sirius, I don't want to go to school!" the boy protested. His emerald green eyes were upset. He was still wearing his Gryffindor pajamas. His brand new glasses were askew on his face and his black hair was ruthlessly messy.

Sirius asked, "Why not?"

"What if I don't like it?"

"What if you do?" Sirius questioned.

"What if I don't?" Harry argued.

Sirius said, "You won't know until you try, Harry."

"I don't wanna try!" the little boy whined. Sirius sighed and went to the dresser to pick out clothes for Harry. Harry had never actually been this stubborn before. Sirius didn't know how to handle it.

In Harry's five years, he hadn't been all that difficult to handle. Sirius, having been proven guilty merely a month after being put into Azkaban, was given full custody of Harry since he was his godfather. Harry called him Sirius, but he was as much of a parent to him as he could be. It was easy to raise him so far. It was simple. Harry had quite a few adults to look up to.

Sirius and Remus were both there, for one. Remus helped as much as he could. Dumbledore was a lingering presence in Harry's life. Of course Minerva McGonagall, Hagrid, Emmeline Vance and the entire Weasley family was there for him. Sirius was friends with a lot of people, all of whom loved the five-year-old boy that was Harry.

"Harry, what are you afraid of if you go to kindergarten with all of the other boys and girls?" Sirius wondered of him.

"What if I don't make friends?" Harry asked quietly.

"You'll have plenty of friends," Sirius assured him.

"Like who?"

"Well I know for a fact that Ron will be there."

Harry raised his head. Sirius, being very close to the Weasley and Prewett families, had continued a relationship with Molly and Arthur Weasley over the years. Harry had bonded well with Ronald Weasley, their youngest son who was Harry's age. They were two peas in a pod.

"Really?"

Sirius nodded, "Absolutely. Neville Longbottom will, too." Though Alice and Frank had been tortured to insanity, Sirius kept in contact with Frank's mother, just to keep up with the family that he had known so well.

Harry sighed and sat on his bed. He said a bit too dramatically, "_Okay_, I'll go…"

Sirius grinned, "Good. Now get dressed."

After that, Harry came down for breakfast. Sirius poured him cereal and scrambled to look for all his papers. What had he done with his briefcase? He cursed to himself and prayed to Merlin that he hadn't lost those important profiles about those two Dark wizards on the run.

He had always been a good Auror. He just couldn't keep track of everything completely. He was well respected and caught as many wizards as he could, he was a good leader, and he was a great Auror. It was just all the damn paperwork.

He entered the kitchen once again after searching for it everywhere he could think of. He had collected several important papers in his office, but couldn't find his briefcase—or his wand, for that matter. If he had his wand, he would definitely have his briefcase by now.

"Maybe it's in the car," said a male's voice from across the room. Sirius looked up to see his dear friend, Remus Lupin, entering through the kitchen door, "After all, you do always leave it there."

"What about my wand?" Sirius asked without questioning Remus's logic. After all, he was probably correct anyways.

Remus didn't respond, only looked pointedly at the refrigerator. Sirius rushed to it, finding his wand stuck in a tub of butter. He sighed and pulled it out, handing it to Remus so he could clean it off.

"That's awful, Sirius," Remus grimaced, "How'd it get in there?"

"Maybe when I was making my breakfast this morning," Sirius shrugged, "It always ends up in strange places."

He could faintly recall a time when it was in Harry's milk glass, and another when it was being used as a TV antenna when they weren't getting good satellite reception. He didn't even want to think about the time while Harry was potty training and it…

That wasn't very fun.

"You've got to take better care of it," Remus said, handing the now clean wand back to Sirius.

"I do, but I just… I have a five-year-old, I forget sometimes." With that, he waved his wand and muttered, "_Accio briefcase_."

It appeared before him on the counter, and he put all of his papers in. He checked that he had every paper, every permit, every file and certificate that he needed for his job.

Remus sat next to Harry, who was finishing off the cereal in his bowl, and asked, "You ready for your first day of school, Harry?"

"Nope," Harry answered, popping the _P_.

Remus frowned, "Well why not?"

"I don't wanna go."

Remus only smiled sympathetically and ruffled the boy's messy hair, "It'll be fine, Harry. You'll make loads of friends, you'll have fun and I'm sure your teacher will be nice as well."

Harry shook his head, "I'm not too sure about that, Moony."

"Oh, you will, I promise."

"If I don't, then you lied," Harry said, "And you shouldn't lie."

"I'm not lying," Remus smiled at the boy and turned to Sirius, "You ready to go?"

Sirius nodded and closed his briefcase, "Yeah, for the most part. Harry's so nervous about his first day, I've been persuading him to try and go all morning. It's been a hassle."

Remus shrugged and said, "Well I promised him he'd have a good time, so I don't think we'll have a problem."

"Good, we better not," Sirius said with a scowl, "I swear, he can be real stubborn at the least opportune moments. He _must_ get it from Lily."

"He definitely gets that from her," Remus agreed.

"One of the few things, seeing as he's just like his father."

"You can't forget his eyes," Remus pointed out.

"Yeah, Lily's eyes. He's also pretty bright—"

"—Not that James was dumb," Remus interjected, getting a chuckled from Sirius.

"Of course not. But he definitely got both of their wit."

Remus smiled and took Harry's empty cereal bowl to the sink. After that, he took Harry upstairs to brush his teeth while Sirius warmed their car up. More times than not Remus and Sirius carpooled to work in the mornings. They worked in the same building, not necessarily the same department, but both in the Auror office. They had the same hours so they decided why not go together.

Only one thing would be changing in the morning now, and that was dropping Harry off at Kindergarten, which was only five minutes from Sirius's home.

They pulled up to the magical elementary school where children of ages five until they were ten went to school for schooling before they went to Hogwarts. They learned basic things here, Muggle things like mathematics, how to read and write, and common knowledge. They learned basic things for their futures, which they would definitely need.

Harry wouldn't walk up to the building since he was too nervous, so Sirius picked him up and carried him with Remus following. They walked inside and greeted the teacher. She was tall and skinny, but very old with white hair in a bun and glasses covering her warm brown eyes. She seemed nice.

"I'm Mrs. Sheffield," she greeted them, "And you are?"

"I'm Sirius Black, and this is my child, Harry Potter."

"It's nice to meet you, Harry," she said.

"You, too," he said, sticking his hand out for her to shake like Sirius had taught him.

She smiled and looked at Remus, then Sirius and then back again. "Well we welcome Harry with an open heart. You're not too late, not all the children have arrived yet."

Sirius nodded and set Harry down. He said, "Harry, do you recognize anybody here?"

He himself recognized several children. He had many friends in the wizarding world who all had planned with him to send their kids to that school. Even the people he wasn't friends with sent their kids here and he knew it. He saw children of his friends, children of his family and children of his enemies.

Harry nodded and pointed to a redheaded boy playing with a set of magical stuffed dragons on the carpet. Ronald Weasley. Sirius was good friends with the Weasley family still and they helped him out from time to time with Harry. Harry had become good friends with their son Ron, who was his age.

"Go say hi to Ron. I'm sure he'll want you to play with him," Sirius suggested. Harry ran over and smiled at Ron, who greeted him back. He gave Harry a red dragon to use and Harry began to play along just as animatedly.

Mrs. Sheffield said, "Looks like your son already has some friends here."

"We know a lot of people," Remus said and introduced himself, "Remus Lupin."

"It's nice to meet you both. What a cute little family you've made with Harry here. If you don't mind me asking, did you adopt him?"

"No, he's the son of a good friend of ours who passed away," Sirius answered. He hadn't paid much attention to anything else she'd said, but Remus caught something. He kept quiet though.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. You both have taken him in nicely. He's well mannered."

"Well actually it was I who took him in, since I'm his godfather," Sirius said, "Remus has helped immensely though. You've no idea how much."

"Well at least Harry still has two parents to look up to, if not a mother."

Remus interjected, "Well actually, he has plenty of adult female figures to look up to, most notably my girlfriend, Marlene."

"Your girlfriend? Oh dear, I thought… Never mind, what a tizzy."

Sirius raised one eyebrow, "Did you think we were homosexual?"

"Sirius and I have been good friends since childhood, but we aren't partners," Remus said, "We're just good friends."

"I—" she seemed very embarrassed. Her face was red and she was avoiding eye contact, "Well I'm sorry for assuming—"

"It's okay, we take no offense," Remus spoke.

"Well, I have to get the class in order now. It was nice to meet you, and Harry too."

They waved to Harry and then left to go to their jobs.

XXX

"Sirius, what are these?" Sirius looked up. He had been sitting in the living room, reading the paper that Sunday morning. Harry had only been in school for a week and contrary to his former beliefs, he loved it.

Harry had walked in, holding a black shoebox. Sirius knew exactly what was inside of it.

"Where'd you get that?" Sirius asked quickly. He set aside the paper and went over to Harry.

"I was looking in your office," he said bashfully. He didn't answer Sirius's question of _why_. "Why is there a watch in here?"

He held up a watch. It had a black leather strap and a white gold dial. It was beautiful, and looked brand new. It looked as new as the day he had gotten it. It practically was, having been in that box for all these years since Sirius and Olivia broke up.

Memories of their six month anniversary flooded his mind. What followed the anniversary came afterwards, bringing him sorrow and regret.

No going back now…

Sirius took the box from Harry gently but not before Harry saw the rest of the contents of the box. There were only a few things but they including the watch, one of Olivia's Jane Eyre books and about a dozen pictures of them together, smiling, laughing, having fun.

"Who's that woman in those pictures?" Harry asked, "She's pretty."

"She's no one," Sirius answered, closing the box, "No one…"

"What about the book?"

"What about it?"

"What's it called?"

Sirius hesitated, "…Jane Eyre."

"Will you read it to me?"

Sirius shook his head, not smiling. His eyes were watering and he had to get out of there quick, "No… It's a grown-up book."

With that, he disappeared into his office quickly and locked the door. In there, he mulled over the pictures, the book and the watch. Then, he put it back into the drawer it was previously in and made sure to lock it tight, hoping to never open the drawer again.


	2. Only Coming Back

**Sorry for no update in so long! I've been sidetracked. But now that I have a great direction for this story, I'm all in, I'm not getting back out. I'm totally committed. And sorry for the short length of this chapter. I'm just dipping a toe back in. Don't worry, I'll dive soon enough.**

**DISCLAIMER: None of the characters in here are any that I own aside from Olivia and Benjamin. Aside from them, I'm at a loss. But you know, I could make a list of the people I've made up in this story, including Olivia's and Sirius's neighbors from their flat in Boston; Olivia's partner in her schooling, Scott; their dog, Marla; Olivia's mentor in law, Abram; Ashley (who will become a bigger part of the story later on)… That's off the top of my head.**

**Anyways, this disclaimer is getting a little lengthy. My point is, I don't own most of the characters, and the ones I do own aren't copyrighted or anything, nor is this AU storyline. And I don't own the Harry Potter Universe in general.**

"Benjamin, I'm home!" Olivia called out as she walked through the door of their townhouse in Boston. Before her husband could even call out an answer, a black lab named Marla ran forward to greet her owner.

"Hey, sweetie," Benjamin said to his wife, going up to kiss her cheek, "It's a little late. You've been at the recording studio?"

Olivia nodded. She was still in music, working with a friend at a recording studio. She often went late, but that night, it wasn't because of work. "Yeah, Jessie and I ended up goofing around in the studio a whole lot… Then she told me to go inside the sound booth and I ended up recording probably ten covers of songs… I just lost track of time, sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I made dinner, it's in the oven."

She smiled. Benjamin's New Jersey accent was long gone, but Olivia had held onto her British/Irish accent with every fiber of her being. She had married Benjamin a year and a half after they had met, and they both still loved each other.

They sat down together to eat dinner and Olivia looked at Benjamin, "Ben, dear?"

"Yes?"

"I got a letter from an old friend in London…"

"And?" Benjamin pressed after she paused.

"Well," Olivia said, "My old friends are having a little reunion in London. And they want me to come."

Benjamin smiled, "Okay. When is it?"

"You're okay with it?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

Olivia shrugged. She hadn't been completely sure about telling him. She, of course, didn't have to go to the reunion her friends were having. However, she missed London immensely. She missed the weather and the smells and the looks. She missed the people and she missed the Wizarding world.

She went to the Wizarding World in Boston all the time. Benjamin knew about her being magic. She had told him when they moved in together, and even showed him so he would believe her. He was shocked, but accepted her completely. Some aspects of it still confused him, and he had never set foot in the Wizarding World, but he still accepted her. However, even though she had the entire Wizarding World in Boston, she still missed London and its own Wizarding World a lot.

Olivia just missed everything about London. She did miss her friends and everyone she used to see a lot as well. She hadn't gone back once in five years. She hadn't seen any of them in five years, which was crazy. She tried not to think about Sirius much. Whenever she thought of going back to London, though, he came to mind.

Olivia wondered how he was doing now, and what he was up to. She wondered if he remembered her. She wondered if he ever thought about her like she thought about him. She tried to rarely think about him, though. Benjamin didn't know about Sirius at all. Olivia had never mentioned him, Benjamin had never asked what she was doing before they met.

To Benjamin, Sirius never existed. Of course, Olivia remembered him vividly. She could still smell his cologne, she could still feel his silky black hair running through her hands or his stubble against her neck. She remembered how he used to bark his laughs like a dog and go up to her when she was cooking breakfast and hold her.

Of course, they were young then. They were just kids. She had to let the past be in the past.

"So," Benjamin said, "I'll book you a flight to London—"

"Actually, I can just go by Wizarding ways," she said, "Apparition."

Benjamin nodded, "Right, the fireplace thing."

"No, that's the Floo Network. Apparition is just… Disappearing."

He nodded again, "Oh, yeah."

Benjamin got a lot of things in the Wizarding World mixed up, but she didn't mind. He really didn't know.

Olivia had her bags packed two days later. She told Jessica she would be taking a while off, and she allowed it. After all, Jessica owned the recording studio. Olivia just helped operate it.

She stood in the living room, Benjamin in front of her. He gave her a hug and kiss and smiled at her. He said, "I'll miss you."

Olivia had packed most of her things, since she didn't really know when she'd be back. She gave Benjamin a last kiss and said, "I'll be back soon."

It may have been a lie, but she didn't say anything else before she spun on her heel and Disapparated. She ended up in the Leaky Cauldron. Her sudden appearance didn't faze anyone, since they were used to it.

Olivia walked up to the counter and asked for a room in the Inn. After paying, she followed the innkeeper to a room on the second floor. He gave her a key and she thanked him before going in and making herself at home.

She put a book on the dresser. The cover was white, with a black silhouette in a profile position of a woman. She had a messy bun, and was looking down. The very top of the book said _Charlotte Bronte_. Below that were the words _Jane Eyre_.

Out of the twenty-seven copies she had previously collected of _Jane Eyre_, only two of the copies had the book cover with the woman's silhouette. This was one of the copies. She didn't know where the other copy had gone. However, something strange had happened.

After Sirius had left, she had counted the copies again and she was missing one. The missing one was one of the copies with the rare cover. She knew Sirius had taken it, but she had no way to get it back. She didn't really mind that he'd taken it. However, now she favored the copy of the book that matched his, and really only read that one whenever she read it.

It was beaten and worn now, read so many times. She took it with her everywhere she went. It was just a memento, something she really loved and for no reason.

Olivia sat down at the room's desk and summoned some parchment, a quill and a jar of ink. Once she got that, she wrote a quick letter to Emmeline Vance, one of her best friends from Hogwarts. Emmeline was one of the girls who she had collected all the books with, along with Ashley.

Ashley was another old acquaintance who Olivia often thought about. Not as often as Sirius, but often enough. Olivia wondered how she was doing. She wondered what she'd done after Olivia had ran away with Sirius. She wondered how Ashley was doing with her little boy.

Olivia wrote the letter to Emmeline quickly.

_Hey, Emmeline,_ it said, _I'm back in London now. I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron. Just owl me on when you want to meet up—I'm free any time. I don't have any plans yet. Can't wait to see you and the rest of the girls! Love, Olivia._

Olivia went down and used one of the owls that the Leaky Cauldron lends out to send it. After Olivia tied the letter to the tawny owl, it took off quickly. She was left alone, and decided to venture out into Diagon Alley.

She walked around for a bit, getting some ice cream and just surveying how things had changed in the past five or so years she'd been gone. Things hadn't changed that much. She recognized most of the stores that were still there, which made her happy.

She realized it really hadn't been too long. It could have been longer.

Olivia had missed everything so much. She smiled as she looked at all the children playing with toy wands, the mothers shopping for robes or potion ingredients or books, at the school-goers looking around for the things on their Hogwarts lists, getting ready for the new school year, and all of the magical things in the shops around them.

She was definitely glad to be back now. This was where she belonged.


	3. Reunited

A soft melody rang out as they walked down the street. They had never heard it before, but Sirius found it… very familiar. He remembered it from somewhere—he didn't know where though. It was warm and bright, and a very nice song.

"Who's playing that?" Sirius asked, looking around. He and Remus were walking down the street to the phone booth to get to the Ministry.

Remus glanced down the street through the crowd of people who were also trying to get to their destinations. He pointed to a woman. She sat on the ground against a wall, playing the guitar and singing. Her guitar case was perched up on the wall next to her and she had a bowl for people to put money in. She wasn't really in anyone's way and seemed to be getting good responses.

"I've never seen her here before," Sirius said.

"Neither have I."

They continued walking, and saw that she was perched quite close to the alleyway in which the phone booth to get to the Ministry was located in.

"She's skilled," Remus said, watching her fingers move across the fret, "I wonder why she's playing on the streets. She's got a lot of potential."

Sirius shrugged, "Maybe she hasn't found anything else to do yet. Maybe she just needs the money."

"Well it's a beautiful song."

As they passed, Sirius got a good look at the woman. She had long black hair that sat over one shoulder, and her hands were very pale. He couldn't see her face from where he was standing, seeing as she was wearing a sunhat, along with her head tilting down to play the music.

However, just from her hair, hands and voice, Sirius had an inkling of a thought as to what he might see underneath the hat. He would see a pale face with high cheekbones, rose red lips and shocking blue eyes. He would see a face he hadn't seen in five years, not since he was in Boston, Massachusetts. Olivia Katsopolis.

The last image he remembered of her was her sobbing in the bed they used to share as he packed his things and left. His heart shattered into a million tiny pieces just thinking about it.

He noticed something glimmering in the sunlight on her hand. On her left hand. On her long, spindly left ring finger sat two rings, stacked. The bottom one was an engagement ring, thick and paved with glimmering diamonds. On top was the wedding ring, a big diamond in the middle of a diamond-paved band with two sapphires sitting on either side of it.

Sirius's heart stopped. _Was_ that Olivia? He couldn't tell. He swore it was, but the diamonds were too flashy, too big for her tastes. She was a simple woman. But if it was…

Then Olivia Katsopolis was no longer a Katsopolis. She was taken. Even if Sirius did have any chance of ever seeing her after this, she would never be his again.

Sirius choked back a sigh and pulled a few coins out of his pocket—Muggle coins. He hid a Galleon in there, because he was sure that it was Olivia. He tossed them into her bowl and kept going with Remus. He didn't look back at her, even though he felt her eyes on his back.

"How much did you give her?" Remus asked.

"Ten pounds," Sirius answered.

Remus's eyebrows shot up, "Wow… That much?"

Sirius nodded as they turned into the alleyway in which was phone booth was in. Graffiti littered the walls, but the entire alley was deserted. He said, "And a Galleon."

"A Galleon? What, she's a Muggle, Sirius!" Remus exclaimed, "Are you crazy?"

"It's okay. I know that woman. She's a witch."

"You didn't even see her face," Remus pointed out.

"I could just tell it was her."

The werewolf nodded and then asked, "So, who is she?"

"Hmmm?"

"Who is she, who's the woman?"

Sirius cleared his throat as they walked down to the phone booth. He said, "Just an old fling…"

"An old fling? Seems more than that seeing as you gave her ten pounds and a galleon."

Sirius only shrugged, "She was…"

"She was what?"

He shrugged again, "Just… She was _really_ something…" he drawled out slowly.

"Something, huh?" Remus questioned, "When'd you date her? Was it when you went to France around the time Harry was born?"

"No, it was before France."

"The girl in Boston?" Remus guessed. Sirius nodded and Remus sighed, "Oh…"

Remus knew that the girl in Boston had meant a lot to Sirius—a whole lot. He rarely talked about her. In fact, Remus didn't even know her name. All he knew was that she was a musician and that she had shocking blue eyes. If he had seen the girl's face who was playing on the street, he would be able to believe it better, but he had a feeling that Sirius was just seeing things.

Remus asked, "You sure that the girl on the street was the girl you knew in Boston?"

Sirius nodded, "One-hundred percent positive."

Remus said, still disbelieving, "Okay…"

XXX

"Hey, girls!" Olivia squealed, standing up to hug her former classmates. It was her old group—Emmeline Vance, Marlene McKinnon and, of course, Ashley Chase. It had always been the four of them at Hogwarts. They'd never gotten to know their fifth roommate that well.

Emmeline Vance, a tall beauty with mile-long legs and long black hair, was always the motherly figure of the group. She was the one who kept them in line, talking them out of things that were too dangerous and forcing them to do homework. She was stern towards them, but made sure they did what they were supposed to. It was a surprise she didn't have children of her own yet.

Marlene was the party girl. She always made the elaborate schemes, along with Olivia, and took them all to parties in other dorms. She was a girly-girl, the one who always gave them nice clothes to wear and did their hair and makeup, making sure they looked presentable. Marlene was the stylist, the party animal, the dumb blonde—and even looked the party, with her long golden hair and big blue eyes, fantastic body and all-around attractive physique.

Then, there was Ashley. Ashley was the girl-next-door type. She had long, ash blonde hair and big brown doe eyes. She was so innocent and adorable, she could get away with anything. Everyone used to think she was such a smart, cute girl who never did anything wrong, and everyone used to be so wrong. She was just as mischievous as the rest of them. She was a little more innocent, and she didn't think up all of the schemes, but she definitely wasn't as precious as everyone thought.

Then, there was Olivia. Olivia was the wild one. She wasn't wild in the rebellious sense, but in more of a free-spirited sense. She was reckless and would do just about anything, but she was also very laid back. She cared, but acted like she didn't. She let things go, didn't hold grudges, and had an overall "let it be" motto about things.

"Olivia, we've all missed you so much!" Marlene squealed once they all sat down, "It's been so long!"

"I know. I've missed you all as well. So, how's life been since I left for America? Incredibly boring, I expect."

"Oh, dream on," Emmeline rolled her eyes, "You weren't the only reason any of us had fun, you know."

"I doubt that. But anyways, what've you all been up to?"

Marlene started, "I've become the manager of Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions!" she said, "And I've been dating Remus Lupin."

Olivia furrowed her eyebrows, "Remus Lupin? The shy one in the Marauders who was always behind the books?"

"Daddy Marauder!" Emmeline giggled.

The girls all laughed and Marlene nodded, "We've been dating for a few years now."

"Hmm… How'd that happen?"

She shrugged, "We ran into each other at the Leaky Cauldron. And you girls know how I've always liked Daddy Marauder."

They all nodded, remembering fondly of the schoolgirl crush she's possessed upon him since their fifth year at Hogwarts. Olivia asked, "So, how's that been going?"

"Pretty well. We've moved in together."

"How cute. I always knew you two would end up together," Olivia grinned, "So, Emmeline, what have you been up to?"

"I'm a teacher now," Emmeline grinned proudly, "I teach at Beauxbatons."

"Why not Hogwarts?"

Emmeline shrugged, "Because I speak French?"

"You also speak English."

"Dumbledore didn't have any openings!" Emmeline said, "But no matter. I teach Charms at Beauxbatons and it's a fantastic job."

"Love life?"

Emmeline rolled her eyes, "You know me, Olivia."

"Right," Olivia nodded, "All work and no play."

"I play. I just don't play seriously."

Marlene interjected, "She rarely plays."

Ashley said, "She plays when she's with us in England, but she won't go for any hot French guys because she likes to suffer."

Olivia frowned and patted Emmeline's arm, "Oh, you poor tortured soul."

"You've got no idea…" Emmeline muttered.

Olivia suddenly remembered about Fabian Prewett. Olivia had seen him and Emmeline together in Boston. They ate lunch with her and Sirius. Olivia wondered what happened, but then remembered something else.

Fabian was an Auror. He probably died in the awful war that Olivia was mostly absent for. It was very sad to think about, but she now knew why Emmeline didn't like dating other people. She was still in love with Fabian, obviously. She hasn't yet gotten over him.

Poor girl…

Olivia wasn't going to bring it up to Emmeline unless they were alone.

Olivia turned to Ashley, "And you! You, you have a baby!"

"Well, he's five or six now," Ashley smiled, "He's gotten so big. It seems like yesterday that we were outside the pub and that man—Sirius Black—came to our rescue."

Olivia grinned and then caught Emmeline's eye. Emmeline was surely wondering what happened to Sirius. Olivia wondered if Emmeline had seen Sirius since he was back. Sirius was Remus's friend, after all, and with Emmeline and Marlene being friends, it couldn't have been all that inevitable.

Olivia was incredibly thankful at the look Emmeline gave her. It was one of curiosity, wondering what happened between her and Sirius. However, beneath it was an understanding of the pleading look Olivia had. Emmeline wasn't going to ask questions about Sirius in front of the other two.

"I remarried when Kevin was about one," Ashley said, "And Derek's amazing. He's a Healer, and he's really great with Kevin, who loves his step-daddy."

"Does Kevin know that Derek isn't his real father?"

Ashley nodded, "But Derek acts like a real father. He's really amazing."

"Well, I'm happy that you're happy, Ash."

Ashley nodded, "What about you. All alone in Boston? Can't be that great, why don't you move back here?"

"I'm not alone. I've got a husband."

"A husband!" Emmeline exclaimed, "Tell us all about him."

"Benjamin's great," Olivia smiled softly, "He's a businessman or something—he works with money, that's all I know," she laughed, "And he's rich, and he's loving… He's perfect."

"So you're happy?" Ashley asked. Olivia nodded and Ashley shot a winning grin to her friend, "Good!"

"What do you do for a living, Liv?" Emmeline asked.

Marlene drawled, "Is that all that matters to you, Em?"

Olivia giggled and said, "Well I went to a Muggle college and studied music. I work at a recording studio where upcoming artists can come and record their music and put it on a tape or disc." Emmeline, Marlene and Ashley looked at Olivia in a weird way. None of them had much experience in the Muggle world, so this was new territory. Olivia said, "I know, when I first heard of it way long ago, I didn't grasp it well either."

Marlene laughed, "Well, I have an idea. We should go out to a club! Tonight, we can all have a few drinks, dance a lot. Maybe Emmeline will get a guy…"

Ashley frowned, "Are you sure it's a good idea? I mean, you've got a boyfriend, my husband and child, Olivia's husband…"

Marlene sighed, "Ash, it's not like we'll all be hooking up with hot men. Look, if it makes you feel better, just a girl's night. Em, that means you can't hook up with anyone. We can all just dance and drink and shun men—you know, have fun! It _is_ possible to have fun without men, you know."

Ashley sighed, "Okay. I'll ask Derek if he can handle Kev alone tonight."

Marlene squealed with excitement, "Yay! Alright, I guess I'll pick you all up around eight. Look _hot_."


End file.
